Where to Find Great Beer in Chicago

     I drive my wife nuts, because anytime we decide to go out she knows that my choice is almost always dominated by what beers are available to pair with my future meal.  The problem becomes, that I really don't want to get stuck at a restaurant where my best option is Miller Lite, so i frequent a great site called Beer Menus, which allows me to find out what bars/restaurants/beer stores are in the area and what they have to offer.  I have found that if a restaurant is passionate about the beers they serve, they have a greater chance on focusing on the quality of food that they serve.  This isn't a hard and fast rule, but more often then not it keeps me out of Olive Garden type places where the food is mundane and so are the brews

Who are the BIG players in the tiny Craft beer industry

There are over 1,600 craft breweries in operation in the United States alone right now, and that number is growing at an incredible rate.  Some are very successful and some are real dogs, but here is a fun list of Craft breweries that have made it and how many barrels of beer they produce in a year!  This info comes from Beernews.org, one of the leading craft beer related news sites on the web.

The Top 50 Small Brewing Companies of 2010 (split from parent companies) 2,000,000+ barrels
• 1. Boston Beer Co.
• 1. D.G. Yuengling & Son
500,000+ barrels
• 3. Sierra Nevada Brewing
• 4. New Belgium Brewing
200,000+ barrels
• 5. Spoetzl Brewery
• 6. Minhas Craft Brewery
• 7. Widmer Brothers Brewing
• 8. Deschutes Brewery
150,000+ barrels
• 9. Pyramid Breweries
• 10. Redhook Ale Brewery
• 11. Magic Hat Brewing
• 12. F.X. Matt Brewing
• 13. Bell’s Brewery
• 14. Boulevard Brewing
• 15. Harpoon Brewery
100,000+ barrels
• 16. Kona Brewing
• 17. Goose Island Beer Company
• 18. Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
• 19. Alaskan Brewing
• 20. August Schell Brewing
• 21. Stone Brewing
• 22. Gordon Biersch Brewing
• 22. Abita Brewing
• 24. Brooklyn Brewery
• 25. Lagunitas Brewing
• 26. Full Sail Brewing
75,000+ barrels
• 27. Shipyard Brewing
• 28. Summit Brewing
• 29. Great Lakes Brewing
• 29. New Glarus Brewing
• 31. Anchor Brewers and Distillers
• 31. Long Trail Brewing
• 33. Rogue Ales
• 34. Firestone Walker Brewing
• 35. SweetWater Brewing
30,000+ barrels
• 36. Flying Dog Brewery
• 37. Mendocino Brewing
• 38. Victory Brewing
• 39. Lost Coast Brewery
• 40. Odell Brewing
• 41. BridgePort Brewing
• 42. BJ’s Restaurant and Brewery
• 43. Straub Brewery
• 43. Rock Bottom Restaurants
• 45. Blue Point Brewing
• 46. Oskar Blues Brewery
• 47. Stevens Point Brewery
• 48. Big Sky Brewing
• 49. Mac and Jack’s Brewing
• 50. Saint Louis Brewery (Schlafly)